You’ve Got Mail: A Cautionary Tale - Chapter 98

Chapter 98 — Adviser Wu’s Short Story

Edited by DancingDolphinsYo

Meeting Bai Shaochang again after a span of a few months, Wu Xingzi inexplicably felt that life was truly variable.

The place where Bai Shaochang was confined was right within the Lord Protector’s estate. The interrogation was being held secretly, and the ministers presiding over Guan Shanjin’s case did not know about this interrogation at all. It was the Emperor, Guan Shanjin, and the Emperor’s other subjects who were working together to lay a trap for Yan Wenxin, attempting to see if they were able to get any useful evidence from Bai Shaochang’s lips.

As Guan Shanjin’s right-hand man, this important responsibility naturally fell upon Man Yue’s shoulders. His accomplishment was fairly decent as well, as he had at least managed to force Bai Shaochang to admit that the evidence he had planted was all fabricated. Unfortunately, although Bai Shaochang was of a refined, elegant nature, he was very stubborn. His face had been frightened pale a number of times during the interrogation, but still, despite trembling in fear, he still insisted on his previous testimony, refusing to change it.

Man Yue truly had no more tricks up his sleeve, and that was why he had turned his eyes towards Wu Xingzi. Unlike his big boss, he did not see the need to shelter and protect Mr. Wu like how Guan Shanjin did. In his eyes, for Wu Xingzi to be able to survive twenty years in the magistrate’s office, he definitely had an extraordinary finesse and temperament.

With a path available and yet not choosing to take it, one would be labelled as a fool. Man Yue was unwilling to waste too much time, just in case more difficulties were to crop up later. If everything were to fail at the very last minute, what were they going to do? With his current method, at the most, when Guan Shanjin was out of jail, Man Yue would immediately return to Bastion City and hide.

The two people entered the Lord Protector’s estate through a secret passageway. The people Yan Wenxin had assigned to watch over Wu Xingzi did not notice that anything was wrong at all, and they thought that just like usual, Wu Xingzi was quietly hiding in Rancui’s place and spending his days there.

Bai Shaochang was staying in Changyou Yard, located in the west part of the Lord Protector’s estate. After the incident had occurred, he remained living there. Although his movements were watched, and he was not allowed to leave the estate, everything else still seemed the same.

It seemed like Yan Wenxin had no worries about Bai Shaochang. Man Yue and Guan Shanjin’s personal guards had secretly examined all the people living in the compound a number of times, but they had never found any of Yan Wenxin’s spies. The secret guards too had reported that there were no spies from the Yan family estate.

How carefree. He was basically looking down on Guan Shanjin. Man Yue was angered into sneering.

He understood, this meant that Yan Wenxin had a firm grip on Bai Shaochang and he pretty much was not afraid that things would go beyond his expectations here. However, it was also Yan Wenxin’s negligence that allowed Man Yue to find out the weakest link.

“It’s safe in the Lord Protector’s estate. You can just hide outside the window and sneak a few looks. Once you’ve noticed that something is wrong, just go ahead and let me know.” Man Yue led Wu Xingzi outside of the bedroom where Bai Shaochang was confined. At this timing, Young Master Bai was usually seated in front of the qin in a daze. It had been many days since he had played the qin.

“Alright.” Wu Xingzi nodded vigorously. He wiped his palm, covered in sweat from his nervousness, on his leg. After touching a fingertip to his tongue, he carefully tore a hole in the paper window, peeping inside.

Just as Man Yue had expected, Bai Shaochang was seated in front of a qin. He was staring at his beloved qin in a daze, and his complexion was very poor, even a little ashen.

He still looked as ethereal as before. Due to his thin figure, he looked even more delicate in his loose robes. Looking at him, Wu Xingzi could not help but be curious about whether he had some sort of fixation about the colour white. Why else would he never have any other colour on him at all?

At the edges of his sleeves were embroideries done with white thread, and they would not be noticeable without paying close attention. His hairpin was made entirely of snow-white jade, and the thin belt around his waist also as white as snow. Rather than saying that the young man was as fair as jade, one could also say that the man was terrifyingly pale.

What could be seen of Bai Shaochang’s skin seemed to hold no colour at all either. His lips were pressed tightly together, and some colour was finally found there.

It seemed as though only his eyes and hair were black. A bright, shiny black; so black that it was enchanting.

Wu Xingzi liked to look at beautiful men. His worry over Guan Shanjin was not false, but somehow or another, he was still attracted to Bai Shaochang’s ethereal, unworldly appearance.

“Mr. Wu?” Man Yue could not help but ask after getting no reaction from Wu Xingzi at all.

“Ahh…” Wu Xingzi was jerked back to reality. Quickly, he turned to glance at Man Yue, shame and self-reproach on his face. “I’m sorry, I, I…”

He rubbed his nose, reminding himself to buck up.

Again, he peeped through the hole in the window. This time, Wu Xingzi had finally discovered that Bai Shaochang seemed to be tightly holding on to something in his hand. It turned out that he was not staring at his qin in a daze, but was gazing at the item in his hand, the expression on his face containing both sadness and joy.

Unfortunately, the item was not big, and it fit perfectly within Bai Shaochang’s hand. From such a distance, it could not be seen clearly, and it could only be vaguely made out what colour the item was. It was not something very brightly coloured, and it seemed to be a little old.

Wu Xingzi frowned, pondering over it for a moment. He then stepped away from the window, signalling at Man Yue to retreat a distance before he finally spoke. “Man Yue, I have a presumptuous request, I need to trouble you to find someone to take a trip.”

“Please go ahead, Mr. Wu. Even if the Lord Protector’s estate were to be in lack of anything, it would never lack manpower.” Hearing Wu Xingzi’s words, Man Yue’s spirits lifted a little.

It seemed like there was a plan!

“25 kilometres north of Goose City, there’s a little county called Tongkou County. In the south of the county, there’s a merchant selling sundries, called Xia Dageng. Please, may you send someone to bring him and his wife here, as well as all the perfume sachets that he has in stock. Just tell him that Adviser Wu of Qingcheng County would like to seek his help, and he would definitely come along with you.” Wu Xingzi gave careful instructions.

Hearing that, slight confusion appeared on Man Yue’s face.

However, Man Yue did not probe any further. With a wave of his hand, he summoned a footboy and gave him some instructions. The footboy then cupped his hands towards Wu Xingzi with a look of gratefulness, before sprinting off.

“Don’t worry. The shortest amount of time it’ll take is six or seven days, and the longest eight to nine days. We’ll definitely be able to bring them here.” Man Yue’s guarantee did not put Wu Xingzi at ease. Thinking about Guan Shanjin still having to stay so many days in jail, his heart could not help but feel troubled.

Probably because he saw Wu Xingzi’s anxiety, Man Yue brought him to his own room, pouring out a cup of tea and passing it to him. “Have something to drink, and put yourself at ease.”

“Ai…” Distractedly, Wu Xingzi started sipping at the cup. He then gave a gusty sigh, as though he was attempting to exhale his lungs through his mouth.

“Mr. Wu, may I ask a question?”

“Ah, go ahead, go ahead.” Wu Xingzi adjusted his seat, a blush apparent on his face.

“What sort of relationship does Mr. Wu have with this Xia Dageng?” Just by hearing this name, one could not help but think of certain salacious things1. This was especially so when knowing that the person in front of him liked to collect drawings of pengornises. Since his boss was currently not in any sort of danger in jail, Man Yue now had the time for a leisurely chat.

“He owes me a favour.” Wu Xingzi pressed his lips together, smiling, but his face was a little embarrassed.

“A favour?” Now, Man Yue was even more curious. He leant forward slightly, his eyes shining so bright that Wu Xingzi averted his gaze unconsciously.

“Ai, it’s only a small matter, nothing worth mentioning. It can be considered, considered that I did something a little underhanded and helped him entrap another person.” Wu Xingzi could not help but redden when talking about this. It was not because he felt that he did something bad then, but just that it was a little shameful to mention such little scheming tricks in front of Man Yue, as those tricks would only work on uncultured villagers who knew nothing of the world.

However, unable to bear Man Yue’s encouragement, along with the freshly steamed osmanthus cake that had just been served, Wu Xingzi’s mouth was finally pried open.

It was only a small conflict amongst villagers.

Blushing, Wu Xingzi bit into a piece of the osmanthus cake, before he started narrating.

It turned out that about nearly twenty years ago, even a little place like Qingcheng County had met with some fortune, though people could not decide if it was good or bad. There was a rich man from Sun City, one of the most prosperous cities in the south of Great Xia, who liked a piece of land in the east of Qingcheng County, near the water. The rich man, bringing along seven or eight fengshui masters with him, had walked along entire rivers of the south before finding this land of excellent fengshui.

As for Wu Xingzi, whether that piece of land had good fengshui or not, most laymen like him would not know. However, it was close enough to the river, and when the rains were a little heavy, the place would even be flooded.

Due to his innate kindness, Wu Xingzi tried to persuade the magistrate to not sell that piece of land to outsiders who did not understand the lay of the land. However, the magistrate himself was an outsider, and he completely did not know how serious the flooding could be. As such, he still sold the land.

It could just about be considered a thing to celebrate about. The county received some money, while the rich man received a piece of land he thought was perfect for him. Very quickly, the rich man started construction on the land, building a fairyland with pavilions and whimsicality.

Perhaps the heavens pitied Qingcheng County for having endured so many years of hardship, and so during the seven months of construction, as well as the two years the rich man had spent living there with his beautiful concubines, not a single flood had occurred.

It was just that while living in Qingcheng County, not only did the rich man not bring any benefits to the county, he even stirred up quite a bit of trouble. Putting aside other daily necessities, most people in the county had originally thought, considering the distance of Qingcheng County from everywhere else, despite how poor the land was, the vegetables they grew were not too bad! Selling them in Goose City, the farmers were able to get quite a good price for them. The only issue was that the volume they could produce was too little, and it was utterly inadequate.

Now, things were looking up. With a rich man moving here, there would at least be about seven to eight people living in that household, and they had got to eat, right?! Perhaps, they might even be able to raise the prices of their produce? However, dreams were only dreams. The rich man completely had no intentions of eating such cheap, local vegetables. From far away places, he would transport carts and carts of goods. There were cabbages that cost five silver taels each, beans that cost seven silver taels per handful, a chicken with colourful feathers that cost five gold taels each and many more ingredients that the villagers had never seen before. Everyday, the unfinished food would be poured into the river, and it was heard that even their rice was a sort that cost one gold tael per six kilograms.

Although this river was not the main one that residents of Qingcheng County used for their daily needs, there were still families who relied on this river to survive. To see food waste and grease floating past them every day, they did not know how they could be able to continue using this river anymore, and thus suffered even greater hardship.

Other than the river, another thing that made the residents of Qingcheng County even more furious was the servants that the rich man had brought along. Despite being servants, they all behaved as though they were above the rest. During their occasional outings to the county market, they would always create all sorts of trouble. Today, a stall in the east would be destroyed by them; tomorrow, they would harass a girl from a family in the west; the day after that, they would push a granny from a family in the south and her grandson would be so angry that he would fight them, only for them to beat him back. The entire county was thrown into chaos.

However, the magistrate had clamped his ears shut, pretending that none of this was going on. He had only just reached twenty years of age, with an ordinary education and an ordinary family. After being assigned to such a remote, far away place, all he wanted to do was quickly muddle through these six years and leave, as being assigned anywhere else would still be better than Qingcheng County.

Xia Dageng, a merchant, would come to Qingcheng County annually and stay there for a month to sell his goods. It just so happened that he came across the rich man strolling about with his nineteen concubines, and his stall was destroyed and he was beaten up.

This Xia Dageng could be considered to have quite a backbone. Despite being beaten up, with injuries all over, he did not make a sound at all. This angered the rich man greatly, as he felt as though he was unable to display his might and was being belittled by this little merchant. Rage rushed to his head and he immediately decided that he would report this to the magistrate’s office, stamping out this tiny little ant, and show off his might.

“So, he sought you out to write an indictment for him?” Man Yue was listening with great pleasure, and he even forgot to eat the osmanthus cake.

Wu Xingzi nodded, replying softly, “The rich man looked for me, only because there were not many people in Qingcheng County who could read or write. He himself actually did not know how to read and write as well. It was later on I learnt that he came to Qingcheng County not because of the fengshui, but because he was no longer able to remain in Sun City any longer.”

“He was a nouveau riche and exuded a strong air of crudeness and unculturedness. After becoming rich, very quickly, he had lost his sensibilities. Not only did he terrorise others, he had quite a number of lawsuits as well. However, his wife was a very impressive woman and helped him brush everything off. In the end, she even made her husband into a proper head of the household, and so this was actually his first time coming to the local authorities.”

Man Yue clapped his hands, laughing. “What an excellent person! So how did you deal with him?”

In response, Wu Xingzi scratched his nose, replying embarrassedly with his head bowed, “I told him that I had many duties to attend to, and I was afraid that I would not be able to immediately help him take on the matter. If the tasks that the magistrate had assigned were not completed, everyone would be punished. Feeling anxious and choking on his anger from the incident, he insisted that I help him find a capable person to replace me. I tried to put him off a few times, but in the end failed to do so; so I told him that there were not many people in Qingcheng County who could read and write. According to what I had heard, apparently, Auntie Li’s second son was quite well educated.”

Auntie Li’s second son? Man Yue searched his memories, and his eyes could not help but widen as he looked at Wu Xingzi in disbelief.

That Auntie Li was Qingcheng County’s most gossipy woman, and she often targeted her vicious tongue at Wu Xingzi, even daring to say all sorts of disgusting things. Auntie Liu could never get along with her, and they were like fire and water. She did have a son who had gone to school, and she always wanted to let her own son replace Wu Xingzi as the county adviser, to bring honour to her family. Unfortunately, the second Li son did know how to read, but he never studied well. Even when he was thirty years of age, he did not even pass the most basic examinations, let alone being a scholar.

Wu Xingzi had laid a trap for the rich man!

Things went on as expected. The rich man was not a fool, and he naturally went around asking about the second Li son’s education. The number of people who could read and write in Qingcheng County added up to less than the fingers on two hands, and to the residents of Qingcheng County, being able to read was already very impressive. Along with how Auntie Li had been both overtly and subtly dissing Wu Xingzi and praising her son, there were really quite a number of people who thought that the second Li son was quite well educated, and was being suppressed by Adviser Wu.

Delighted, the rich man took his money to the Li family, asking the second Li son to write an indictment for him.

As for Wu Xingzi, after sending the rich man away, he turned and went to seek out Xia Dageng instead. He explained that he would write an indictment for him, seeking a lawsuit against the rich man, and he would definitely help him fight back and get some money to see to his injuries.

Although Xia Dageng was a little doubtful, Wu Xingzi looked too earnest. Caught up in the moment, he agreed.

The next day, the rich man happily took the indictment written by the second Li son, dragging along his newly hired lawyer — who was also the second Li son — to the magistrate’s office. He complained that Xia Dageng was cheating money by selling shoddy items, and after being exposed, he even beat people up. The rich man thought that with the capable second Li son, who was second to none in Qingcheng County and whom even Adviser Wu was jealous about, as his backing, together with his own money and power, he would definitely be able to make things so difficult for Xia Dageng that death would be preferable to living.

Who would have thought that after seeing the indictment, the magistrate would look hesitant and instinctively direct his eyes towards Wu Xingzi. As the adviser, Wu Xingzi immediately leant over, exchanging some words with the magistrate. Next, the rich man and the second Li son were both given ten smacks on their buttocks each. Wailing and crying like pigs being killed, their mouths were stuffed shut by the magistrate and they were chased out of the magistrate’s office.

“The laws of Great Xia state that official documents, indictments, progress reports and other court papers have to meet certain specifications, and there are no mistakes allowed. If there are any mistakes, a light punishment would be ten hits of the rod, and a harsher punishment would be the imprisonment of all three generations of their family.” Wu Xingzi picked up another piece of osmanthus cake, nibbling away at it with his two front teeth. Feeling extremely embarrassed, he mumbled, “My actions went a little overboard.”